Codex to Halo: Always Faithful Always Forward
by We'retheDesperateMeasures-ODST
Summary: This is a guide to help fellow fans of the Halo universe understand the story I wrote. Before you post a review on the main story; Halo: Always Faithful Always Forward, I recommend checking this out so that if there is a controversy in my fic, the codex will most likely have the answer to address it. If not, post them on the review section here and I will answer it.
1. Operation: Changing the Guard

_"We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over the northern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the hell is going on? "_

 _\- Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., United States Army, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff_  
 _during the assault on Grenada, 1983_

* * *

 _"The Marine Corps has just been called by the New York Times, 'The elite of this country.' I think it is the elite of the world."_  
 _\- Admiral William Halsey, U.S. Navy_

* * *

 **Operation: Changing the Guard**

On April 1st, 2549 The Planet of Yavus was invaded by the Covenant.

The UNSC Army garrison responded as best they could but they were being overwhelmed by the onslaught.

UNSC High Command was preparing to send a response but they could not spare any UNSC Ground Forces.

Then the UNSC Marine Corps commandant, General Hogan came up with the idea of "borrowing" Marines from one of the nations of Earth.

The obvious choice was the United States Marines.

When the UNSC asked for volunteers: 3,720,958 United States Marines answered the call to arms.

They reach the planet of Yavus on August 15th, 2532 and when they landed, they brought Hell.

Charging with Warthogs, Mattis Main Battle Tanks in front and F-53 Condors flying, the USMC made an impression on their UNSC comrades and the Covenant.

Later, the commander of the garrison Colonel Robert Oates asked after the initial battle: "What the hell? Why did high command sent in three divisions of UNSC Marines?"

The response of then Colonel Mathew Taylor, who became a legend in the United States Marines, was: "We're not those Goddamn copycats. We are United States Marines of the United States of America. We're the true Devil Dogs compared to those second-rate imposters."

The Siege of Yavus lasted fifteen days.

The Planet was successfully evacuated with minimum causalities on the U.S. Marines and heavy causalities for the garrison and Covenant forces.

It went down as one of the greatest victories for the UNSC.


	2. Operation: Sword and Shield

_"Let's show these Splitlips the Hell of Glassing!"_

 _\- Gunnery Sergeant Louis Coleman, 4th Battalion, 5th Marines, USMC_

 **Operation: Sword and Shield**

On August 25th, 2549 the UNSC launch the first invasion of Covenant territories.

The invasion was unique in which the invasion did not have any UNSC forces on the ground.

Instead due to an agreement between U.S. High Command and Admiral Hood, the elite United States Marines took the charge of invading the Sangheili colony of Skyke while the UNSC Navy primarily dealt with space with limited US Naval support.

Over 2,350,000 U.S. Marines and other United States military personnel invaded a garrison of 105,492,000 Elites and other Covenant forces.

Despite the belief of their fellow Leathernecks in the UNSC who were fighting in Space, the United States Marine Corps successfully defeated the garrison, receiving only 2,000 causalities in the process with the vast majority being wounded.

The Covenant sent in reinforcements on the tenth day, but by sheer luck, they were beaten off by the small joint U.S.- UNSC battle group.

The operation was considered a success despite the killing of 'civilians' including women and children.

After this battle, the UNSC decided to nationalized Earth's forces and use the nationalized forces to success against the Covenant.


	3. US Rifle, M14 7,62X51mm

_"The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle."_  
 _\- Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing, U.S. Army_  
 _Commander of American Forces in World War I_

 **The M14 Rifle**

The M14 Rifle is unique amongst the UEG and UNSC because the United States refuses to adopt A) an International standard rifle and B) a Bullpup Rifle.

Designed and first manufactured in the 1950's, the U.S. Rifle, M14 7.62X51mm was first adopted in 1957 until replaced by the M16 series of Rifle in 1965.

Despite its original short service life during the Vietnam War, the M14 became popular as a Sniper Rifle / Designated Marksman Rifle during the War on Terror.

It eventually replaced the M16 / M4 series of Rifles on March 21st, 2069 due to advances in 7.62X51mm ammunition.

Despite being offered the MA5 series of Rifles, the M14 does hold certain advantages:

It is more accurate than the MA5 (As accurate as the M392 DMR – 800 meters) and it is fully automatic compared to the M392 DMR, which is semi-automatic only.

It is also one Rifle type with many variants compared to five different UNSC Rifles with many variants.

But it holds only 25 rounds of ammunition maximum in standard configuration and is a conventional, Rifle length Rifle compared to the Bullpup MA5.

Despite its supposed archaic design, some officials in the UNSC argue that they should adopt the M14.

 **M14 Rifle-Standard**

The Standard Rifle has a 22-inch barrel with standard sights and a black synthetic stock. It uses a 25 round magazine.

 **M14 Carbine**

The M14 Carbine is the same as the M14 Rifle except for a 19.25-inch barrel.

 **M14 DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle)**

The M14 DMR is the same as the standard rifle except for National Match sights, an optional 9-14X Scope and an optional 5 round magazine.

 **M21 S.W.S (Sniper Weapon System)**

The M21 is the same as the DMR except that it is glass-bedded to the stock, have a 12-35X Scope and have an optional M2 Bipod.

 **M14 Squad Automatic Rifle (S.A.W)**

The M14 S.A.W. is the same as the standard rifle but it comes with 100 round drum magazines, a flash compensator, and the M2 Bipod.


	4. Standing Militaries on Earth

_"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years."_  
 _\- James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy; 23 February 1945_

 **Standing Militaries on Earth**

Despite having an Intergalactic military, the United Earth Government still allowed nations on Earth to have some autonomy with their own laws and customs.

Along with these exceptions, nations on Earth are allowed to maintain their own individual militaries.

One of the largest is the United States Armed Forces of the United States of America.

But despite being allowed their own militaries, the Nations of Earth had their militaries nationalized during the Human-Covenant War.

Advantages were obvious over new recruits for the UNSC: The nationalized militaries were trained for war and prepared to fight.

The most prepared was the United States Military and especially the United States Marine Corps.

Every battle in which the United States Marines participated in resulted in either victories or enough time for Earth and humanity to survive.

The USMC led the first successful invasion on Covenant soil and successfully conquered the Sangheili colony of Skyke during Operation: Sword and Shield.


	5. The United States Armed Forces

_"One of the serious problems in planning the fight against American doctrine, is that the Americans do not read their manuals, nor do they feel any obligation to follow their doctrine..."_

 _\- From a Soviet Junior Lt's Notebook_

* * *

 _"Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle."_

 _\- George S. Patton, U.S. Army_

* * *

 _"The reason the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices it on a daily basis."_  
 _\- from a post- World War II debriefing of a German General_

* * *

 _"I fought in campaigns against the Russian Army, the Serbian Army, the Roumanian Army, the British Army, the French Army, and the American Army. All told in this war I have participated in more than 80 battles. I have found your American Army the most honorable of all our enemies. You have also been the bravest of our enemies and in fact, the only ones who have attacked us seriously in this year's battles. I, therefore, honor you, and, now that the war is over, I stand ready, for my part, to accept you as a friend."_

 _—Chief of Staff for General v. Einem, commander of the Third German Army, World War I_

* * *

 **The United States Armed Forces**

The military of the United States is made up of five branches under the Department of Defense:

 **· The United States Army (U.S. Army)**

 **· The United States Navy (U.S. Navy)**

 **· The United States Air Force (U.S.A.F.)**

 **· The United States Marine Corps (U.S.M.C.)**

 **· The United States Coast Guard (U.S. Coast Guard)**

The U.S. Military is further divided amongst the War Department and the Department of the Navy. The Coast Guard is under the Navy during times of war, but is under the Department of Homeland Security during peace.

The President of the United States of America is the Commander of Chief with the Joint Chiefs commanding all branches.

All Special Operations Forces except Marine Force Recon is under the jurisdiction of Joint Special Operations Command (S.O.C.O.M.)


	6. The United States Marine Corps

_"There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion."_  
 _― Gen. William_ Thornson _, U.S. Army_

 **History of the United States Marine Corps**

The United States Marine Corps is one of the oldest military organization on Earth and also is one of the proudest.

They are what the United Nations Space Command Marine Corps is based on.

Formed on November 10th, 1775 during the American Revolution, the then Continental Marines participated in the landing of Nautilus Island, the Raid on Whitehaven, and the Battle of Princeton.

Disbanded after the Revolutionary War, they were reestablished in July of 1798.

Other Wars and Battles include: The Barbary Coast expedition of 1805, the War of 1812, the Seminole Wars, the Mexican-American War, the Raid on Harper's Ferry, the American Civil War, the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Boxer Rebellion and the Siege of Peking, World War I, the Banana Wars, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Operation: Urgent Fury, Desert Storm, the War on Terror, the Interplanetary Wars, the Rainforest Wars and the Insurrection.

The USMC has two Special Operation units: the Marine Raiders and Force Recon.


	7. Rivalries and Insults

**Origins of a rivalry**

Probably the biggest interservice rivalry in human history other than the dangerous game played by the Spartans and the Helljumpers is the infamous feud between the United States Marine Corps Raiders and the UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.

The origins of the quarrel can be traced back to the Interplanetary Wars in the 22nd Century when Captain Benjamin Stillman, USMC 10th Marine Raider Regiment invented the first "Drop Jet Platoons" in order to defeat the Friedens and Koslovics.

After the war, most of the national militaries were merged to form the United Nations Space Command.

Always being territorial, the United States Marines and even the other national militaries fought tooth and nail to prevent themselves from being absorbed into the newly formed unified military of humanity.

A compromise was reached in 2285 when it was decided that Earth would be defended by the national militaries while space was the domain of the UNSC and the Colonies were protected by the Colonial Military Administration.

Even the compromise did not end the rivalry and it all came to a head on March 12th, 2511 in a event now known as the "Kenosha Bar Incident" when a barfight was instigated by eleven personnel of the 105th Orbital Drop Shock Troops Division against ten off-duty Americans servicemen of the 7th Battalion, 12th Marine Raider Regiment.

Chaos ensued and even the responding Military Policemen from both the USMC and UNSC joined in with a smaller brawl between UNSC Army SPECWAR team Fourteen and members of U.S. Navy SEAL Team Three happening nearby.

Order wasn't restored for a full twelve hours and a detachment from the Colonial Military Administration was sent in to reinforce the overwhelmed local authorities.

The damage cost over seven billion credits to repair and immediately after the incident, the USMC Commandant at the time, General Andrew Xavier declared that no additional U.S. Marines would become Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and the U.E.G parliament condemned the order, stating that the head of the United States Marine Corps was out of line and being insubordinate against the international government and then the United States President: Robert O'Neill had a news conference, declaring "By authority of the Constitution of the United States, the U.S. Armed Forces only respond to the American Government and her people, not a bunch of international idealists believing in a New World Order."

The crisis escalated with the U.E.G. and the United States of America on the brink of war when on May 12th, 2511 on the UEG colony of Mamore, a terrorist bomber from the Freedom and Liberation Party detonated a commercial nuclear explosive in the Haven arcology, killing 2 million people and injuring 8.3 million others.

The matter was quickly settled and the U.S. agreed to send a detachment of Anti-terrorism operatives to assist UNSC forces for Operation: TREBUCHET as a mean to repair diplomatic ties.

However, the legacy of the "incident" lives on in the minds of the Raiders and ODSTs, even though the Helljumpers had to contend with a new set of rivals known as the Spartans.

* * *

 **Insults to Raiders**

*John Wayne Wannabes

*Second Class ODSTs

*Carlson and Edson Worshipping Shithead(s)

* **R** eally **A** ren't **I** nto **D** ropping and **E** nding **R** eal **S** hit

* * *

 **Insult to ODSTs**

*Dead on Arrival(s)

*Organically Dead/Destroyed Shit Trooper(s)

*Coffin Testers

*Fireballs

*Gumdrops

* * *

 **Insults to U.S. Marines**

*The Ancient Breed(s)

*Blueberry(ies)

*Bluejacket(s)- _**Never call a Marine a "Bluejacket"! They are not sailors!**_

*Outdated and obsolete(s)

* * *

 **Insults to UNSC Marines**

*Copycat(s)

*Expendable(s)

*Expendable and cannot shoot straight(s)

*Pseudo Devil Dogs (Pseudo Leathernecks)

*Plasma bait(s)

*Devil Pup(s)


	8. Task Force 141

Task Force 141: codenamed the "Ghosts" was a joint, multinational task force consisting of the absolute best Special Operations personnel from Earth.

It was dreamt up by General Hershel Sheppard before his death on Arcadia in 2549 as a means to conduct high-risk missions against Covenant and Insurrectionists targets.

The plan was revived in June of 2552 by UNSC HIGHCOM as a potential and valuable asset for Operation: Red Flag.

Deciding to test the unit on Reach by having them take down important rebel cells, HIGHCOM had unbeknowingly sent the men and women of Task Force 141 to their ultimate test.


End file.
